Introduction to Altcoins

Alternative Coins (aka altcoins) are now becoming more common on the cryptocurrency scene. If you’re new to altcoins, then giving this your full attention will clarify more than a few things for your future trading.

What are altcoins?

Altcoins are essentially ‘alternatives’ to the well known cryptocurrency coin – Bitcoin, the first blockchain-based digital currency. Most altcoins were created to improve on Bitcoin, or to focus on a specific use case.

There are hundreds of altcoins. Some have a clear purpose (we’ll get into that later) and some are more novel, like Dogecoin, Potatocoin and Coinye (an altcoin dedicated to Kanye West).

Don’t confuse altcoins with tokens, like EOS and TRON, who have a parent coin (Ethereum). View a full list of cryptocurrency coins and tokens on CoinMarketCap.

The difference between Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ripple and Litecoin

There are three main altcoins that closely follow Bitcoin in the cryptocurrency hierarchy – Ethereum (ETH), Ripple (XRP) and Litecoin (LTC).

All three of these coins are all built upon the basic foundations of the decentralised network Bitcoin was also founded upon. Each coin is designed to improve upon and provide features that Bitcoin does not and therefore each coin has unique properties of its own. These coins encourage further innovation and decentralisation.

Before you trade altcoins, it’s critical that you understand what you’re dealing with. In the table below, we’ve compiled key facts, figures and risks on Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ripple and Litecoin.

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